BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Microsoft on Thursday announced it will share more information about its products and technology in an effort to make outside applications work together with its softwares.

    The company will publish technical information on its website for its most widely used products, allowing developers to create software compatible with products such as Vista and Office.

    The company will still charge a fee to companies that sell software built using this information. But Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie described the fees as "low royalty rates."

    "These steps represent an important step and significant change in how we share information about our products and technologies," said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.

    "Our goal is to promote greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for customers and developers throughout the industry by making our products more open and by sharing even more information about our technologies," he added.

    Ballmer said the firm is backing its words with actions, posting more than 30,000 pages of previously safeguarded software protocol information online and would post thousands of additional pages of software protocols on its website in coming weeks.

    However, Microsoft's move draws scepticism from European Union regulators who claim that the software maker does not touch on possible monopoly abuse in the past and address the allegations that it seeks to undercut rivals by bundling Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system.

    "The Commission would welcome any move toward genuine interoperability," regulators said in a statement.

    Analysts see the voluntary move as a way to placate the EU, which upheld a 613 million U.S. dollars fine against the company last year and has since opened two new investigations into Microsoft's business practices.

(Agencies)